Fitness Trackers

[Yvonne Smith]

Bobby and I both have Apple Watches, and wear them pretty much all the time, although Bobby does not wear his it bed for sleep tracking, and I usually do wear mine overnight.
I really love my Apple Watch, and I think that everyone (especially we seniors) should have one, in case of emergencies. It is much better than one of those pendants that people wear on their neck and it has to connect with a home telephone. The Apple Watch can connect to your iPhone and also to cellular, so it can be used for emergency calls from anywhere.
If you fall or pass out and can’t call, the Apple Watch will ask if you have fallen and if you have , it asks if you need help. If you are unconscious and can’t respond, it will call 911 and also your emergency contacts.

It tracks all of your health biometrics, like pulse, O2 sensor, as well as can take a EKG , and sense of your heart is in a fib. Even if a person does not use it for exercise tracking, it is worth having , just for the health benefits !
Other fitness tracker watches are also available , if you do not have an iPhone, such as Garmin, or Fitbit.

We are changing our Medicare insurance back to Humana for 2026, and they have a program called Go365, which gives you points for exercising each day, even if it is just counting your steps from walking.
For some reason (at least before) they do not connect to our Apple Watch, but they do connect to a Fitbit or a Garmin, so we are going to get a small Fitbit to wear along with the Apple Watch .
I got mine on eBay, where they are pretty cheap for a used one, and have it all set up and working, so it is ready to go once we change over in January.

 

[Marie Mallory]

Jake and I use a step counter.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

I'm skeptical of their actual value, but what do I know? If they seem to do you some good then great.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

I'm skeptical of their actual value, but what do I know? If they seem to do you some good then great.

I am not sure if you are referring to the fitness trackers, or to the step counter, @Jacob Petersheim , or maybe you mean both of them. I think the value depends on the person. Some people are seriously concerned about their health, and some are not, so just like diet, some people want to track things and some do not.

My Apple Watch literally saved my life several years ago, and it has helped me in emergency situations when I needed help fast; so for me, its value is enormous.
I had no idea what my heart was doing when I was asleep at night until I started wearing my Apple Watch and it showed me that my heart rate was in the low 40’s overnight. After it started going down into the 30’s, then I realized that it was gradually slowing down more and more, and some night would probably just go so slow that it stopped altogether.
When I told my doctor what my heart rate was doing, they were able to take care of the problem, so I don’t have to worry about this anymore; but if I had not had the Apple Watch to alert me, I would probably have died several years ago.

The Apple Watch is almost like having a doctor on your wrist.
It will tell you if your heart is beating too slow, too fast, erratically, in a-fib, and you can even do an EKG with the watch to see what your heartbeat looks like.
The Apple Watch tracks oxygen use, so I can tell how well my body is getting oxygen, even overnight, and this has been useful information for my doctors, because this is one of the things they need to know to track sleep apnea and other similar disorders.
All of the information I need to tell my doctors is saved right on my phone, making it easy for me to share information the doctor needs about my health.

This is not even counting the emergency features of the Apple Watch, which I have mostly not needed, thankfully. When I needed Bobby to help becasue i fell and was hurt, I was able to use the watch to call and tell him where I was and that I needed him. Kate Ellery and her husband have both needed their Apple Watch in an emergency situation, too.
It is one of those things that does not matter………. Until it does.

 

[Marie Mallory]

I am not sure if you are referring to the fitness trackers, or to the step counter, @Jacob Petersheim , or maybe you mean both of them. I think the value depends on the person. Some people are seriously concerned about their health, and some are not, so just like diet, some people want to track things and some do not.

My Apple Watch literally saved my life several years ago, and it has helped me in emergency situations when I needed help fast; so for me, its value is enormous.
I had no idea what my heart was doing when I was asleep at night until I started wearing my Apple Watch and it showed me that my heart rate was in the low 40’s overnight. After it started going down into the 30’s, then I realized that it was gradually slowing down more and more, and some night would probably just go so slow that it stopped altogether.
When I told my doctor what my heart rate was doing, they were able to take care of the problem, so I don’t have to worry about this anymore; but if I had not had the Apple Watch to alert me, I would probably have died several years ago.

The Apple Watch is almost like having a doctor on your wrist.
It will tell you if your heart is beating too slow, too fast, erratically, in a-fib, and you can even do an EKG with the watch to see what your heartbeat looks like.
The Apple Watch tracks oxygen use, so I can tell how well my body is getting oxygen, even overnight, and this has been useful information for my doctors, because this is one of the things they need to know to track sleep apnea and other similar disorders.
All of the information I need to tell my doctors is saved right on my phone, making it easy for me to share information the doctor needs about my health.

This is not even counting the emergency features of the Apple Watch, which I have mostly not needed, thankfully. When I needed Bobby to help becasue i fell and was hurt, I was able to use the watch to call and tell him where I was and that I needed him. Kate Ellery and her husband have both needed their Apple Watch in an emergency situation, too.
It is one of those things that does not matter………. Until it does.

Yvonne that sounds fantastic! So far Jake and I only have two way radios we use. When I was going into the woods alone the radio gave me security. I seldom go alone anymore though.
What kind of watch do you have?

 

[Yvonne Smith]

Yvonne that sounds fantastic! So far Jake and I only have two way radios we use. When I was going into the woods alone the radio gave me security. I seldom go alone anymore though.
What kind of watch do you have?

We have an Apple Watch, @Marie Mallory . They have a lot of health benefits, as well as doing most of what our cell phone does. I get weather alerts, text messages, and phone calls on the watch.
Plus, with the different health apps that sync with the watch, almost all of my health information is on my phone now, and I can share it with my doctor and my family.

If there was an emergency, and I had to call 911, the watch can do that and also alert my emergency contacts. If I fell and passed out, the watch will sense that I fell and ask if I am okay. If I am unable to respond, it will call 911 and also give responders my precise location to rescue me.
It is not tied to a home phone line, like most of those medical alert devices are, so it will work, no matter where i am at.

The watch itself can have different watch faces, and even use your photos as a watch face, and Amazon has a lot of different bands that will fit an Apple Watch. This is what mine looks like, but I can make the face look like anything I want it to. You can’t see it in the picture, but by touching the edge of the watch, it will show my heart rate, a calendar, and more.

 

[Marie Mallory]

We have an Apple Watch, @Marie Mallory . They have a lot of health benefits, as well as doing most of what our cell phone does. I get weather alerts, text messages, and phone calls on the watch.
Plus, with the different health apps that sync with the watch, almost all of my health information is on my phone now, and I can share it with my doctor and my family.

If there was an emergency, and I had to call 911, the watch can do that and also alert my emergency contacts. If I fell and passed out, the watch will sense that I fell and ask if I am okay. If I am unable to respond, it will call 911 and also give responders my precise location to rescue me.
It is not tied to a home phone line, like most of those medical alert devices are, so it will work, no matter where i am at.

The watch itself can have different watch faces, and even use your photos as a watch face, and Amazon has a lot of different bands that will fit an Apple Watch. This is what mine looks like, but I can make the face look like anything I want it to. You can’t see it in the picture, but by touching the edge of the watch, it will show my heart rate, a calendar, and more.


View attachment 1595

Thats beat. I'll check it out, thanks.
I'm also thinking of getting one of those little health kits a woman on radio mentioned Dana Loosh [ spelling]. Jake likes to listen to her at bedtime, he has Tinnitis ear ringing, so do I, says she helps him fall asleep.
It has a few meds in it.